Trudeau’s failed UN campaign cost taxpayers $2.4 million, not including overseas investments

The $2.4 million figure doesn't include the nearly $2 billion in overseas aid sent to prove to the UN that Canada is deserving of the seat.

“We are determined to help the United Nations make greater strides in support of its goal for all humanity,” said the prime minister when announcing the bid in 2016.

The $2.4 million also does not include complete travel costs, or staff time.

“Since November 2019 the Minister of Foreign Affairs held well over one hundred bilateral meetings and phone calls with counterparts where Canada’s UN Security Council campaign was consistently one of the topics raised,” staff wrote. The includes a long campaign from Foreign Affairs Minister Francoise-Philippe Champagne.

Canada would come in third behind Norway and Ireland, and would wind up with less votes than Stephen Harper's campaign for the bid. Harper received 114 votes to Trudeau's 108.

After Harper's loss, Trudeau would go on to publicly say that a Liberal government "would certainly make sure we don't lose an election to join the Security Council at the United Nations."